THE PAINTINGS which sparked rumours mysterious street artist ‘Banksy’ had graced the town, have helped raise nearly £3,000 to be ploughed into arts in the community.
And now thanks to the increased attention the pieces have brought to the dilapidated bus shelter outside Rose Bank Gardens, the town council has vowed to speed up refurbishment work.
It mark something of a fairytale story for the actual artists Lee Morris and Tom Brown who are both from Malvern, after their pictures of Sir Edward Elgar initially attracted police attention when they appeared without warning at the beginning of March.
Since then public reaction has been overwhelmingly positive and the council has even vowed to consider using their work in other parts of the town.
Last Thursday (April 10) the three original paintings to the ones inside the bus shelter along with the stencil of the Elgar painting next to the phone box were auctioned off for a total of £2,880 all purchased by the same buyer.
After the remarkable result Mr Morris said: “I would like to thank all involved who helped to organise and promote the auction with a special thank you to the bidders who raised money for further art projects in the town.
“Historically Malvern has been and still remains a creative hub teeming with artists and every encouragement should be made to support the arts and continue to raise the profile of the town.”
Days before, Malvern Town Council agreed step up the refurbishment work to the bus shelter which has suffered from water seeping into the walls leaving damp spots.
Coun Peter Smith, who proposed the idea, said: “The current display of ‘pop-up’ art has engendered huge public approbation and we should respond to this as well as improve the fine Victorian bus shelter.”
He also called for the three paintings to be encased.
Coun Hannah Campbell added: “Only in Malvern would vandalism be framed in wood. The public response has been fantastic and this is the type of thing we should be doing in Malvern. I wouldn’t want to see us supporting vandalism but casing and framing the pieces sends a clear message and what we do not want is the graffiti we had around Christmas which was not quite what we was after.”
On the same night as the auction, Mayor Julian Roskams’ quiz raised £200 for Malvern Special Families.
“It was an extremely good night. The auction was a triumph with a great result. The artists must be delighted,” he added.
